. >> like steve perry's voice never leaves journey, andrea mitche mitchell's presence never leaves. under fire before nominations are even announced. joining me now, politico's jake sherman. you heard from the great woman herself, andrea mitchell, they can't keep putting out trial balloons. what's the white house doing right now on hagel and can they save him? >> i think the problem for him is he has no constituency. >> georgetown professor, yeah. >> i'm not sure what his path is through the senate, and is this a fight the president wants to have in the beginning of 2013 when he has the fiscal cliff, government funding, debt ceiling, taxes, all these issues out there where he's going to have to fight tooth and nail, does he want to fight on chuck hagel and that's something to be seen. >> i want to turn our attention to the fiscal cliff, because you have some interesting reporting coming out right now. gop leaders had a phone call today. >> they are talking on a conference call, which is how they usually communicate when they are not in d.c., but they are strategizing on what to do.